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Distinguish what a medium feature teaches typically from what it can be made to teach

Design Method · All design methods
Evidence · 1 claim (1 for) · 1 study (1 theoretical), q1 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 1 claim rests on one study

Description

The paper argues that research questions like 'What does feature x teach?' are vague because they fail to distinguish "what a feature teaches typically, and what it can be made to teach". Typical-use questions treat the person-technology interaction as a natural given and reveal how children ordinarily handle a technology; potential questions ask what specific technological elements can be made to do if particular conditions are met, e.g. specially designed TV segments using zooms and point-of-view changes to cultivate skills as 'mental tools'. The two answers differ, and conflating them makes effect questions unilluminatingly vague.

Design Implications

Context

Requirements

  • Researchers must state explicitly whether a study addresses a medium's typical effects under ordinary conditions or its potential effects under favorable, deliberately designed conditions.

Constraints

  • Each kind of question has limits the article states: knowing how children typically use a tool tells little about how it could be used more effectively, and demonstrating potential effects does not determine typical handling.

Target Learners

  • children learning from television, computers, and other media

Target Learning Objectives

  • mental skill mastery and symbolic skill cultivation through media features

Claims

Examples

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Key Sources

  • Salomon, Gavriel; Gardner, Howard. (1983). The Computer as Educator: Lessons from Television Research. Harvard Project Zero. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED253201
Page metadata
Field Value
type method
id distinguish-typical-from-potential-media-effects
title Distinguish what a medium feature teaches typically from what it can be made to teach
description The paper argues that research questions like 'What does feature x teach?' are vague because they fail to distinguish "what a feature teaches typically, and what it can be made to teach".
status review
generated by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-09-27
trust unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
sources 1 — salomon-1983

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